Christmas Eve 2017

On Christmas Eve, we gathered in our home with my sister's family and my mother and stepfather for our annual "Dress the Kids up as Characters from the Nativity and Take Lots of Pictures of Them While They Act it Out" event. They were super cute as usual. I think this is the first year Shae felt to old to participate (sniff, sniff). With her many years of participation though, she made an excellent costume/stage manager.

Maira decided it would be fun to be a wise man with a DIY beard:

As the angel, Connor decided that his halo worked pretty well as a frisbee:

Eden has transitioned from playing the baby to being a cute little lamb:

I played the music (as I've done every Christmas Eve since I was a teenager - in fact, I use the same music book that I bought with babysitting money at a bookstore in Billings Bridge Mall - and the same piano!)

Shiloh thought it was pretty silly for her to ride on the back of Hudson the donkey:

Caesar Augustus's very official decree:

Hudson made a quick costume change so he could also play a sheep:

Connor was a very smiley angel:

And Maira and Isaiah brought wise men gifts to the baby:

And...back to the halo/frisbee thing again:

After all that hard work, it was time for some treats and then Christmas jammies:

Snapchat on Shae's phone was quite a hit:

Christmas Lights at the Leg 2017

Another Christmas tradition we saved for Shae's visit home was going to the Legislature grounds to look at the lights. We've been doing this every year since Shae was a baby!

Making Gingerbread Houses 2017

Shae got to come home for a week and a half at Christmas (instead of the normal three weeks due to a teachers' strike in Ontario in the fall) and the minute she was home, we started up all our usual Christmas traditions, including decorating gingerbread houses.

Shae's was gluten free and once again, the icing that came with hers was somewhat challenging to work with.

Hudson seemed to believe that the object of this activity was to pile the maximum amount of candy possible onto his house.

We were all so happy to have Shae home!

School Christmas Concerts 2017

Shae's Birthday

Since Shae was away at school, we didn't get to celebrate her birthday with her - except for Jess! He had work in Ontario that week so he booked himself some extra time so he could drive to Oakville and take her out for dinner for her birthday.

Happy 19th birthday Shae!

He also took her to the Royal Ontario Museum.